Pail and wringer combination



y 23, 1957 FRANK K. NOMIYA 2,793,383

' PAIL AND WRINGER COMBINATION Filed Oct. 31, 1952 INVENTDR. f/m/vk K NoM/m United States Patent-O PAIL AND WRINGER COMBINATION Frank K. N omiya, Los Angeles, Calif. Application October 31, 1952, Serial No. 317,990

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-262) This invention relates to a mop pail and wringer combination and also to the wringer device of said combination, and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved combination that is adapted to facilitate the work of wringing a mop in a manner that is easier and more convenient than heretofore, and in which the pail is stabilized against the'tendency to tip over when the mop is drawn from the wringer.

Another object is the provision of a wringer for use in a pail in which there are a pair of horizontally extending wringer rollers with one wringer roller of the pair being pivotally supported at one of its ends for swinging toward the other wringer roller when the mop head is positioned between said rollers.

A still further object of the combination is the provision of a pair of wringer rollers supported on a frame for relative movement in direction toward and away from each other, and one of which wringers is connected with a foot actuated means for causing said movement while guides are arranged to prevent the mop head from tangling with the wringer parts during a swinging operation.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and in the drawings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the wringer and pail.

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken through one wringer roller along line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

In detail, the pail 1 is of more or less conventional construction, having generally cylindrical sides 2 and a bottom 3, the upper end being open.

Secured firmly to one side of said pail adjacent to its upper end and inside said pail, is a support 4 that follows the arcuate horizontal contour of said side, and which support may have clip members 5 (Fig. 1) that extend over the upper edge of the side wall of the pail to tightly clamp and hold said support to said side wall, although it is obvious that the support 4 could be otherwise rigidly secured to said pail.

The said support 4 may be a channel member with its base against said side wall and with its sides or flanges 6 (Fig. 2) projecting laterally generally toward the center of the pail.

A horizontally extending elongated tapered shaft 7 is rigidly secured at its larger diameter end to said support 4 adjacent one end of the latter (Fig. 1). This shaft is a bearing for a horizontally elongated first wringer roller 8 that is rotatable on said shaft, and the other end of said shaft is threaded for a nut 9 that functions both to hold the roller on said shaft, and as an. element projecting beyond the end of said roller for a purpose later to be described more in detail.

The sides of the channel like support 4, as already described, extend horizontally toward the center of the pail and are widened at 10 (Figs. 1 and 3) to provide upper and lower opposed portions between which is a vertical bearing 11 supported for rotation about its vertical axis on a vertical pin or pivot 12 that is secured at its ends to said widened portions 10 of support 4.

This bearing 11 carries a horizontally extending pivot 13 rigid therewith, and also the bearing has a frame 14 secured at one end thereto (Fig. 3).

The pivot 12 and shaft 7 are horizontally spaced from each other, and are preferably disposed at substantially the same level.

A second horizontally'extending wringer roller 17 of substantially the same size and diameter as roller 8 is supported for rotation between and on pivot 12 and a second pivot 18 (Fig. 3) that is carried at the outer end of frame 14. The frame 14 is offset laterally relative to said roller 17 in direction away from roller 8 so that the strands of a mop head positioned between said rollers will not scrape on said frame or become entangled with said frame.

The degree of said offset is greatest at a point 19, that is adjacent to pivot 12, and this oifset portion 19 is formed with a vertically opening aperture 20 that is adapted to receive one arm 21 of a crank-like member having a second arm 22 that extends over the support 4 and over the upper edge of the pail. At about the juncture between arms 21, 22 is a horizontal pivot 23 (Fig. 2) which actually is positioned on a short portion 24 of arm 22 that projects a slight distance past the juncture between said arms.

The pivot 23 connects the crank with one end of a bracket piece 25 that in turn is rigidly secured at its opposite end to the support 4, and a spring 26 connects arm 22 with said piece 25 for yieldably urging arm 22 upwardly and at the same time swinging frame 14 about pivot 12 in direction away from the roller 8.

The end of arm 22 that projects over the upper edge of the pail is secured to a sleeve 27, This sleeve 27 virtually is a bearing in which an extension 28 (Fig. 2) of a wing nut is rotatable. The numeral 28 will be hereafter used to refer to the wing nut as a whole.

Nut 28 is threaded onto the upper end of a vertically extending rod 29, which rod is enlarged at its lower end 30 for added strength with the enlarged end hollowed out to reduce its weight.

A laterally directed foot pedal 31 is secured to the lower end of portion 30 that constitutes the lower end of rod 29, and the lower end of the rod 29 when said pedal is moved downwardly. The bottom surface 35 of guide 34 is preferably coplanar with the lower edges of the sides of said pail, and when the foot pedal is moved to its lowermost position it functions (together with the lower end of rod 29) as a support to prevent the pail from tipping over during a mop wringing operation. The outer end of the pedal will preferably contact the floor when the rod is at the lower end of its movement.

By adjusting the wing nut 28 up or down on the rod 29, the stroke of the crank arms 22, 24 may be varied, and consequently the degree that roller 17 is swung toward roller 8.

Preferably, the outer end of frame 14 where it carries the pivot 18 is extended laterally, as at 40 generally toward the outer end of the roller 8. This projection or element 40 is adapted to move to a position below the nut (element) 9 as seen in dot-dash position 41 of roller 17, when the latter roller is swung to mop wringing position. Thus the element 40 not only functions to keep the mop yarn between rollers 8, 17 but it also acts to prevent any tendencyfor roller 17 to move upwardly to an objectionable degree when the mop is pulled or drawn upwardly in a wringing operation. It is desirable that the rollers 8, 17 be substantially parallel and in a common horizontal plane.

Extending below the inner ends of rollers 8, 17, or the ends that are adjacent to the side of the pail, is a third roller 50 (Fig. 1) that is rotatably supported at its ends in lugs 51 that project from and that are rigid with the support 4. This roller 50 preferably extends past said inner ends of rollers 8, 17 and it functions to prevent the mop yarn from becoming tangled with the inner ends of the rollers and with the inner end of frame 19.

In operation the mop head (not shown) may be within the mop pail and as the outer ends of the rollers 8, 17 preferably terminate at points spaced substantial distances from the wall of the pail that is opposite to the inner ends of the rollers, said mop head may easily be moved laterally to a position between the rollers.

The pedal 31 is then moved downwardly, causing the roller 17 to compress the head against roller 8 and between rollers 17, 8. The mop head is then drawn upwardly by pulling up in the handle and the water is forced therefrom. As soon as the pressure on the foot pedal is relieved, it will be moved upwardly and the roller 17 will be swung back to its full line position under the influence of spring 26. The nut 28 is adjusted according to the thickness of the mop head and the pressure to be applied.

When the pedal is in the dot-dash line position noted in Fig. 2 it will be seen that an upward pull on the mop head, that is between the rollers, will tend to tilt the pail toward the foot pedal side, but such tendency will be resisted by the foot pedal and by the lower portion 30 of the rod and by the guide 34. The guide 34 is tubular and is adapted to slidably enclose the enlarged lower end 30 of rod 29. A slot 33 in the side of said guide provides for the connection between said end 30 and the pedal and holds the pedal against rotating about the vertical axis of the rod 29 (Fig. 4).

Preferably the pail has a bail handle 55, and as seen in Fig. 1 the hand grasping part 56 of said bail is positioned nearer to the mop wringing device than to the other side of the pail, and the one end of the bail is adjacent to rod 29. This position of the hand gripping portion enables the pail to be balanced in carrying it, since the greater weight is where the wringing device is located.

While the wringing device is preferably made rigid with the pail, it may be made for attachment to suitable pails.

It is to be understood that the description and drawings are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, but are intended to be illustrative of a preferred form thereof.

I claim:

In a mop pail having sides, a bottom, and an open top: a pair of horizontally extending wringing rollers, means supporting said pair of rollers from one side of said pail only and within the latter in a position with one of their ends substantially at said one side and with their opposite ends terminating about midway between said one side and the side of the pail opposite thereto, means supporting one roller of said pair of rollers for swinging about a vertical axis at its end nearest said one side from a position alongside the other roller to a position within said pail and extending divergently relative to said other roller, the space within said pail between the said opposite ends of said pair of rollers and the sides of said pail being free for movement of a mop within said pail from either of the oppositely outwardly facing sides of said pair of rollers past said opposite ends and to a position between said rollers, means movable with said one roller to a position ext-ending across the space between said outer ends of said pair of rollers when said one roller is swung to a position alongside the other roller and means connected with said one roller for so swinging the latter to and from its position alongside said other roller, said means being in a position adjacent to said one side of said pail free from interference with said movement of such mop within said pail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 533,122 Gebhardt Jan. 29, 1895 581,698 Dixon May 4, 1897 610,549 Martin Sept. 13, 1898 653,450 Hart July 10, 1900 824,286 Cook June 26, 1906 866,055 Olsen Sept. 17, 1907 967,497 Charpentier Aug. 16, 1910 1,198,321 Brown Sept. 12, 1916 1,496,799 Weinmann June 10, 1924 1,575,774 Lawlor Mar. 9, 1926 1,796,754 Greenstreet Mar. 17, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,082 Great Britain July 16, 1891 

